OpenAI's Latest Move to Ensure AI Safety
On Monday, OpenAI announced the formation of a new "Safety and Security Committee" to oversee risk management for its projects and operations. This announcement comes at a critical time as the company says it has "recently begun" training its next frontier model. This move aims to bring the company closer to its goal of achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), though some critics argue AGI is still a distant reality. The formation of the committee is also a reaction to recent public setbacks for the company, highlighting the need for enhanced safety measures and transparency.
Understanding the Frontier Model and AGI
The term "frontier model" in the AI industry refers to a new AI system designed to push the boundaries of current capabilities. AGI, on the other hand, is a hypothetical AI system with human-level abilities to perform novel, general tasks beyond its training data. This contrasts with narrow AI, which is trained for specific tasks. Whether OpenAI's new frontier model will be GPT-5 or something beyond remains unclear, adding to the speculation and excitement surrounding their latest developments.
The Role of the Safety and Security Committee
Led by OpenAI directors Bret Taylor (chair), Adam D'Angelo, Nicole Seligman, and Sam Altman (CEO), the new Safety and Security Committee will be responsible for making recommendations about AI safety to the full company board of directors. "Safety" in this context includes not only preventing AI from going rogue but also a broader set of "processes and safeguards." These were detailed in a May 21 safety update that covered alignment research, protecting children, upholding election integrity, assessing societal impacts, and implementing security measures.
The committee's first task will be to evaluate and further develop these processes and safeguards over the next 90 days. At the end of this period, the committee will share its recommendations with the full board, and OpenAI will publicly share an update on adopted recommendations. However, it remains to be seen whether these measures will result in meaningful policy changes that significantly impact the company's operations.
Technical and Policy Experts on the Committee
Multiple technical and policy experts will also serve on the new committee, including Aleksander Madry (head of preparedness), Lilian Weng (head of safety systems), John Schulman (head of alignment science), Matt Knight (head of security), and Jakub Pachocki (chief scientist). Their combined expertise is expected to provide a robust framework for evaluating and improving AI safety protocols.
Reaction to Recent Criticism and Setbacks
The announcement of the Safety and Security Committee is partly a reaction to the negative press following the resignation of OpenAI Superalignment team members Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike two weeks ago. This team was tasked with "steer[ing] and control[ling] AI systems much smarter than us," and their departure has led to criticism that OpenAI lacks a commitment to developing highly capable AI safely. Critics like Meta Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun argue that OpenAI is far from developing AGI, suggesting that concerns over AI safety might be premature.
Speculation About GPT-5 and AI Progress
Persistent rumors suggest that progress in large language models (LLMs) has plateaued recently around capabilities similar to GPT-4. Competing models, such as Anthropic's Claude Opus and Google's Gemini 1.5 Pro, are roughly equivalent to the GPT-4 family in capability, despite strong competitive incentives to surpass it. Recently, when many expected OpenAI to release a new AI model that would clearly surpass GPT-4 Turbo, the company instead released GPT-4o, which is roughly equivalent in ability but faster, focusing on a flashy new conversational interface rather than a major under-the-hood upgrade.
Future of OpenAI's AI Models
While rumors of GPT-5 arriving this summer had circulated, the recent announcement suggests these rumors may have been referring to GPT-4o instead. It is possible that OpenAI is not yet ready to release a model that can significantly surpass GPT-4. With the company remaining tight-lipped on the details, the future of its AI advancements remains uncertain, leaving the industry and public eagerly waiting for more updates.
Conclusion and Call to Action
As OpenAI navigates criticism and strives for greater transparency and safety in AI development, the formation of the Safety and Security Committee marks a significant step. The committee's work in the coming months will be crucial in shaping the future of AI safety protocols and addressing public concerns.
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Source: Ars Technica
Photo Credit: Getty Images
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